Minutes - 2012-09-28
MCCVLC Advisory Council Meeting Minutes
September 28, 2012
Present: Tom Bennett (Delta), Deb Lacey (St. Clair), Margaret Bourcier (Mott), Mike Hansen (MCCA), Eric Kunnen
(Grand Rapids), James Bender (Lansing), Jeff Blumenthal (Alpena), Patti Davidson (West Shore), Cheri Holman
(Schoolcraft), Pat Morgenstern (Glen Oaks), Kerry Hannah (Kirtland), Kelly Hyduk (Oakland), Sue Risner (Jackson),
Mark Burger (MiCTA), Gloria Eccleston (Washtenaw), Kathryn James (Wayne), Ronda Edwards (MCCVLC).
Welcome, Introductions & Review Agenda


Additions/revisions to the agenda
Minutes of May 30, 2012 meeting
Announcement: Congratulations to Eric Kunnen (GRCC) and Stephanie Coffer (WCCCD), for their participation in
the 2013 ITC Leadership Academy this past July in Minneapolis.
MCCA Update
o
MCCA Report – Mike Hansen reported that the Center for Student Success just wrapped up the Annual
Student Success Summit with 430 faculty and staff from higher ed, government and K-12. The Summit
provides a venue for discussing best practices in student success initiatives.
Regarding the MCCA Legislative Agenda, Mike reported that there are about 10-15 bills pending that
involve community colleges. The MPSERS Reform bill was enacted and seeks to address sustainability
which is beneficial to colleges. Another bill just enacted that has implications for community colleges is
the Dual Enrollment expanded legislation to allow for more opportunities for high school students.
Another initiative of the Presidents that is gaining traction is alternative delivery and accelerated degrees
while still in high school through direct credit, dual enrollment, etc. The Presidents have established a
task force on the issue to protect the credibility and value of the college credit and keep rigor of courses
up to college standards. A final report is due soon.
The MCCA continues to work on baccalaureate authorization for community college in five very technical
areas and expect some resolution by the end of the year – in one way or the other.
MCCA continues to work on the New Jobs Training program, in particular the cap that only allows for $50
million cap on number of contracts the program can have at any one time. We are trying to raise the cap.
Another initiative is a new branding program for Michigan community colleges will highlight a better way
to showcase the value of community colleges.
The VLC Task Force in an initiative of the Presidents to investigate how to engage the current MCCVLC
infrastructure to support new innovative strategies moving forward. The Presidents are supportive and
this will be presented to the full MCCA Board of Directors at their meeting at Delta College in October.
MCCVLC Next Generation Task Force Report – Ronda reported on the work of the Task Force. Chair of the Task
Force is Dan Phelan. Other members are Gary Wheeler, Conway Jeffress, Carol Churchill, Dennis Bona, Bob
Harrison. MCCVLC Next Generation Task Force Charge
Ronda reviewed the presentation made to the Presidents Committee last week, and will be presented to the MCCA
Board of Directors at their meeting in October. Key items include:
 Where are we now? Current model is built for institutions, not for students. VLC is the last option for
students.
 The VLC name is obscure; definite need for a new name to counter increasing competition. “Michigan
Colleges On-line” will be the new name and is already paid for, but still needs full board approval.
 We don’t have a process/incentive for growing a program online. Demand is not met through the VLC.
Data indicates; enrollments requested are much greater than enrollments completed and we’re on a slow
decrease in both. Enrollment in online courses is increasing, currently 72,000 per semester at Michigan
community colleges. Online courses help increase enrollment at community colleges.
 Outcomes: Quality, the student experience, Help Desk, Advising, Tutoring, Academic Experience. Address
unmet untapped potential, collaboration. Quality: student focused, all courses have a seal of
approval/Quality Matters, all faculty should be credentialed, statewide Help Desk, data driven from online
student surveys, improved articulation, marketing new Michigan Colleges Online, Market Share, new
markets dual enrollment, university students, national & international students, military, professional
credentials, certificate, non-credit.
 Why are we doing this? Online education is critical to long term strategy. Over 31% of students are taking
at least one course online.
 Strategies: Remove duplicative efforts. Can’t afford to pay for development of courses at individual
colleges when they have already been developed. MRI program that several cc’s collaboratively
developed is an example of success. Course schedule booklet should include a link that will take you to
other Michigan Community Colleges that offer that course online.
 Major barriers: Cost and quality instructors, lack of course designers.
 There will be Governing Board and Operating Committee looking for leaders that have the ability to make
decisions. Two additional MCO positions: Instructional designer and technical person who will take care of
the servers.
 Timeline: Initial meeting with President was on Sept 20. Board saw conception first of October. President’
meeting on Nov. 8th will begin process of addressing details, new plan to be considered March 14, 2013 at
the Spring BOD meeting.
 Credentialing: Need training on how to teach online. MCO will help with development of courses, done
collaboratively, and then course will be available for all MCO members to use.
 Task Force Update - October 5, 2012
 Task Force Presentation to MCCA Board - Fall 2012
o
MCCVLC Tuition Revenue Sharing –




Memorandum of Understanding
Common Tuition Structure
Revenue Sharing Mechanics
MCCVLC Tuition Rates for 2012-13 Academic Year
 In-District: $150/credit hour
 Out-District: $215/credit hour
 Out-State: $280/credit hour
Announcements
o
o
Reconciliation of fall 2012 enrollments can start now. Deadline is October 26th, 2012.
Don’t forget to submit the enrollment report for Fall 2012 by October 10th – go to ETOM website to
submit Please make sure the enrollments are submitted and that your college is shown as reported.
MCCVLC Strategic Plan Implementation
o
Goal #1: Promote Innovation 
MCCVLC Webinar Series – Ronda announced the upcoming webinars scheduled and those that
are being planned.
§ Softchalk in the Cloud – October 2, 2012 noon – 1:00 pm
§ Carnegie Mellon Community College Online Learning Initiative – Introduction – October 9,
2012 noon – 1:00 pm Biol ANP, Psychology? They are willing to pay faculty a stipend to
teach and then evaluate one of these courses. If you talk with faculty or div chairs, let
Ronda know if you hear of barriers to using these open courses. Washington colleges
have developed the top 80 courses needed by students for first 2 years of degree.
§ Carnegie Mellon CCOLI – Review of Courses – October 23, 2012 – noon – 2:00 pm.
November Webinars:
o Accessibility – Tech Tips for Faculty
o Accessibility – Video captioning
o HLC Substantive Change for Distance Education Programs – late Oct/Nov
o
o

Campus Showcase –
 Suggestions from Advisory Council- Please provide Ronda with ideas for webinars;
something innovative you are doing at your community college. Looking for
outstanding online science instructors. Kerry forwarded their science instructor’s
name.

MCCVLC Second Life Island – Friday meetings
 First meeting – October 19th at noon on the Angel Island has now been ported over
and now exists on the MCO Second Life Island. Professional development will start in
November. Open to all Michigan Community College faculty. Send names to Ronda.
Goal #2: Program sharing –

New Program of Study Announcements –
 Eric from GRCC - New certificate program in computer security.
 Pat from Glen Oaks - Developing mobile phone application certificate, 5 courses.
 Gloria from Washtenaw - Working with HLC for accreditation of retail and
transportation programs. All credit bearing.
 Kirtland - Vascular stenography, HIT (Health IT) certificate.
 WCC awarded a large grant to move certificate computer programs online (15
classes).

Bridge to Success - (Learning to Learn and Succeed with Math) Free for you to use. Send these
out to your faculty. Funded with Gates money.
Goal #3: Resource Sharing –

Shared Professional Development





ETOM Fall Conference – Nov. 2, 2012 – Northwood University, Midland
Online Teacher Certification Training – Oct. 8 – Nov. 18, 2012
Advanced Online Teacher Certification Training – Oct. 8 – Nov. 18, 2012
ITC 2013 eLearning Conference – February 17-20, 2013 – San Antonio, TX
 Submit a presentation proposal – information here.
State Authorization – Update Luke Pickelman reported he has looked at all states and found
that some don’t require any action, however, most states require applications and in some cases
fees if there is physical presence. There was a question about what physical presence means, and
Luke indicated that meant you had bricks and mortar – i.e. buildings – in those states. Most
states have an exemption for public institutions.
See website for details. Colleges need to click on forms and complete them. Luke reviewed the
list and discussed what is required. MCCVLC doing Alabama & Kansas for the membership.
Luke indicated that the US Department of Ed, had their rules regarding state authorizations
struck down due to technicalities, but all indications are they will move forward in the future
reauthorization of the Higher Ed Act with new rules. The reciprocity agreements that are in the
works right now will require states’ legislatures to adopt them and that will take some time.
There was a question about what address to use – Luke suggested it is the permanent address of
student that is used. Another question was how to deal with military students. Luke will research
and follow up.

HLC – Webinar on successful change requests is being planned for November.

Group/Discounted Rates Purchase Process
o Softchalk – Ronda provided information on the new SoftChalk SAAS - in the cloud
now – and is subscription based. Working on a consortium based discounted rate –
let Ronda know if you are interested in participating.
o EasyBib – EasyBib is offering between 10 - 20% discount If you are interested,
please contact Caitlyn Selleck <caitlyn@imagineeasy.com> and let her know you are
with MCCVLC.
o SmarterMeasure – just need 3 or 4 more institutions to adopt for discount

2013 Distance Learning Administrators Survey – This year will be a shorter survey based on
directions from the Advisory Council. Ronda asked for volunteers to work on a task force to work
on this year’s survey. Volunteers are Margaret Bourcier, Stephanie Bulger and Tracy Russo.
Anyone else interested in working on the task force please email Ronda.

ListServ - Just a reminder that MCCVLC has developed listserves for the following LMS users:
 Moodle
 Desire to Learn
 WebStudy

o
o
Online Student Satisfaction Survey (Task Force)– Look at things that are not collectively
bargained and develop a survey of those items for a consortium implementation. If you want to
be on this task force notify Ronda. Sue Risner and Kathryn James volunteered.
Goal #4: Partnerships –

MICTA Report - Mark Burger reported that MiCTA will be having their first virtual conference MICTA Virtual Conference – on November 14, 2012. It features Hollister Crow (founder of
BitNet), talking about cloud computing. To attend got to www.mictatech.org - If you aren’t a
member you can get a free one year membership and attend the virtual conference, as well as
great giveaways to participants that attend and fill out survey.

Project GOALS - Ronda Edwards - Let Ronda know if you want to sign up. We will be doing
another webinar that focuses on cost analysis and benchmarking tool.
 St. Clair County Community College
 Glen Oaks Community College
 Grand Rapids Community College
Goal #6: Efficiency of Interface & Operations - devcampus.mccvlc.org Ronda asked people to log in to
the new website on their mobile devices. The new website uses responsive design that incorporates
mobile design rather than specific app development. There are no more FAQs and instead we have better
search capability. Ronda showed the new Help Center, the new enrollment wizard and the link with the
Michigan Transfer Network. She encouraged everyone to keep their online program information updated
on the website.
Ronda also indicated that we are moving all the SCOs over to the new website. Received feedback from
attendees who were logging in on mobile devices. If you see glitches, let Ronda know, it may already be
in the que.
o
Goal #7: Promotion

New brochure
Future Advisory Council Meetings
o
January 25, 2013 (proposed)